BOTANY the granite and clay slate. A comparatively small portion of the county has been explored for mosses, but the neighbourhood of Bodmin, in the eastern half, has been thoroughly examined by Mr. R. V. Tellam, who pub- lished a list of species in the "Transactions of the Penzance Natural History Society, new ser. ii. 354 (1887-8), and the neighbourhood of Mount Edgcumbe, Saltash, and Torpoint, on the Cornish side of the Tamar, by Messrs. F. Brent and E. M. Holmes, whose records are given in vol. iii. of the Annual Reports and Transactions of the Plymouth Institution and Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society. The country around Penzance was carefully searched for many years by Mr. W. Curnow and Dr. Ralfs, and latterly by Mr. E. D. Marquand. A list of the species found by these botanists was given in the Transactions of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society, new ser. i. 117, 422, including a few others found by Messrs. E. M. Holmes, W. Mitten and W. B. Waterfall. Still later a few have been added by Mr. H. N. Dixon. Dixon and Jameson's Handbook of British Mosses has been followed throughout in the lists here given, with the exception of the Sphagnacece, for which Horrell, The European Sphagnacea (after Warnstorf) has been utilized. The rarer species met with in the county are indicated by an asterisk preceding the name, and the very common species, 93 in number exclusive of varieties that occur in most counties, are not given in this list. The mosses characteristic of high moorland or subalpine districts are naturally fewer in number than in Devonshire, where the great extent of Dartmoor offers better conditions for their growth than the limited and somewhat warmer Bodmin Moors, which form its counterpart in Cornwall. Of the rarer species Campylopus introjlexus is usually found on granite near the sea ; Tortula canescens on sunny, rocky declivities ; Philo- notis rigida in deep sheltered spots or glens. Hookeria late-wrens has been found nowhere else in Great Britain, and very sparingly in Ireland. Eurhynchium strigosum for many years was known to occur only near Truro in this country, and the locality has not been refound. Ditrichum subulatum occurs very sparingly near Truro and Saltash, and in a few spots in Devonshire on the opposite side of the Tamar, where it reaches apparently its northern limit. Fissidens serrulatus is a very rare Euro- pean species and has not been found north of Cornwall, where only the male plant has been detected as yet. F. polyphyllus is also very rare, but has been found in Devon, north Wales, and Ireland. Epipte- rygium Tozeri seems to occur more abundantly on a yellowish clay-slate, which also Tortula cuneifolia, Schistostega osmundacea and Ditrichum subula- tum seem to prefer, but it is rarely found in fruit. Species preceded by a note of interrogation, although recorded by other botanists, have not been seen by the writer, who cannot guarantee their correctness. The rarest species are marked by an asterisk. 75
